[Surfnetkids: 28 Mar 2012] What is April Fools’ Day?

As I traveled through France with my daughter, I was constantly reminded that learning languages is so much easier when you are young! Did you take high-school French? I studied Spanish, and it is some sort of strange brain connection that makes me want to speak Spanish when confronted with a foreign language I don’t know, such as French. Has that ever happened to you? Ha ha ha!!

Back to the topic of kids, I was recently introduced (thanks Scott!) to a new program for teaching French to your kids. I love this idea! It is the brainchild of Kristin Jangro and her site LanguageMom.com. With family in France, Kristin decided she wanted her two boys to learn French. She spent an extensive amount of time and money buying all the programs she could find, but found them all lacking three key elements: personal interaction, consistency and progression. Frustrated, she set out to develop her own program.

Her program for 3-7 year olds includes 26 weekly lessons, each with a different theme. Each lesson includes a study plan, study sheets and a video. The LanguageMom.com website also includes some great free resources for parents who are raising kids interested in other countries, cultures and languages.

The first day of April is a day to watch out for. Although not a national holiday, it is widely celebrated as April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day. Kids can join in the fun by playing silly jokes on friends and family, as long as everything is done in good spirit! Tricks like placing a bowl of cereal and milk in the freezer then serving it to someone for breakfast are things even small children can do, and can be funny for everyone involved.

April Fools Did you know that until our current Gregorian calendar was introduced, New Year’s was celebrated during the week of March 25 to April 1? In 1582, the new calendar moved it to January 1. Some people didn’t like this change and they “refused to acknowledge [it] and continued to celebrate on April 1.” The people who did accept the change played jokes on the people who didn’t, like inviting them to nonexistent parties and pinning paper fish to their backs. If you want more than just a history, check out the links to different funny pranks to play listed on the left-hand side of the screen.

April Fools.com Did you miss some of the great online pranks of years gone by? No worries, here at AprilFools.com you can peruse a collection of past pranks from brands such as Google, YouTube and Nike. Laugh along at how in 2010, Google’s Gmail ran out of vowels and the entire website was written only in consonants! Follow the links in the left-hand menu to read about fake news headlines that really fooled people, and ideas for harmless pranks for both kids and adults.

Infoplease: April Fools’ Day: Origin and History Celebrating spring with a day of fun and foolishness is almost universal. “The Romans had a festival named Hilaria on March 25, rejoicing in the resurrection of Attis. The Hindu calendar has Holi, and the Jewish calendar has Purim.” Even though the origins of April Fools’ Day itself may be unclear, what is certain is that something silly is in the air in the springtime. Visit Infoplease to explore more theories about the origins of April Fools’ Day and check out the “Related Links” section to learn more about hoaxes, phobias, and calendar changes.